brevis
by no cure for crazy
Summary: "Even still, she felt something when their hands brushed over the same copy of the odyssey. A spark of some sort." Clarke never expected a brief encounter to strike such an interest in her.


AN: so this has been something I've been wanting to write since Grey's 11x10 and it's loosely based on how a patient and her (husband?/boyfriend) met. It's also a lot longer than I planned on and I wrote most of it while being drunk so.

Disclaimer: I don't own the 100, obviously or Grey's anatomy - I wish I owned these characters so I could actually treat them right.

* * *

Clarke relaxes as soon as she walks into the small, cozy little bookstore. With her hectic workload of the week, studying for finals, she was relieved to know that they were _finally_ over. Though waiting another week to find out how she did wasn't helping. But being in this bookstore was.

There was just something about the rows and rows of books inside what used to be someone's house that brought a comfort to her. It was nice, homey and she's loved every second of it. She just needed a destresser from all the studying and maybe a distraction from worrying about her grades…

"Day dreaming in the doorway probably isn't the safest place, you know," a voice pulls her out of her thoughts.

She shakes her head and slowly comes back to the present and is her gaze falls on a man with dark curls and eyes to match, staring at her with concern etched in the irises. He's stopped mid shelfing, his hand still suspended in midair, holding a book.

Clarke shakes her head to try and pull herself back into the present. This stranger is right and probably saved her from getting a doorknob jammed into her lower back or getting knocked down.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she says, with a soft smile. "Thank you."

"Wouldn't want you to be the new floor mat or anything."

She shares another thank you with the kind, yet kind of cute stranger before letting her feet lead her wherever they want to go. The one thing she loves about being in a bookstore, especially a small family owned one like this is just wandering through the shelves and stack of books.

She'll just wonder through the shelves, running a finger along the spines of the books she passed until something catches her eye.

Today, however she finds herself running into the owner of the bookshop who pulled her out of the doorway earlier.

She's following a shelf of books, not exactly watching where she's going and she almost runs into the owner – or maybe he's just an employee _._ The tips of her fingers just barely graze his as he's shelving more books that look well-loved and she feels something, maybe it's a spark, travel from her fingers through the rest of her body.

She stops herself before she can trample him. "Sorry," she barely mumbles and she's pretty sure he can't hear her anyway.

He glances up at her and a small smile graces his lips and she can't help but smile in return. There's just _something_ about his smile that is contiguous.

She steals a glance out of the corner of her eye of the book and the title jumps out at her, _The Odyssey._

"Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Just browsing," she manages to get out, shocking herself that even in her daze, she's able to form words.

"Alright," he says, continuing to stack books on the shelf and organize them. "Just let me know if you need anything – anything at all."

Clarke nods in response before moving along down the shelves.

She finds herself coming back to that particular aisle, that particular shelf and picking up that copy of _The Odyssey_ and carrying it up front to the cash register. She doesn't know what compels her to buy it but there's something that she can't quite escape.

So she's purchasing this book on a complete whim and trying not to think about how she felt their hands brushed. Does this make her pathetic? Considering her only memories of _The Odyssey_ is trying to not fall asleep in class.

She shakes off the thoughts as she makes her way back towards the apartment she shares with Raven, with a new purchase sitting in her messenger bag.

* * *

Even on the subway ride back home, the stranger she bumped into on in the bookshop is still on her mind. There was just something about him that wouldn't leave her. It seems crazy, considering she doesn't even know the guy's name – only that he works there and she's seen him a few times.

Even still, she _felt_ something when their hands brushed over the same copy of t _he odyssey_. A spark of some sort.

She already knows what her roommate will say before she's even through the apartment door.

 _Crazy, Griffin, you're crazy_.

"Okay, who is he?" Raven asks as Clarke closes the front door.

Clarke startles, glancing up to look at Raven and Harper lounging on the couch, with Raven staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

"Cut the crap, Griffin," Raven says. "Your face says it all."

Harper tilts her head. "It's that guy from that local bookshop isn't it?"

Clarke sighs and runs a hand through her hair, she's never going to hear the end of it from these two. She walks the short distance towards the living area and drops her messenger bag on the free chair. "It doesn't even matter anyway."

Harper lets out an exhausted sigh. "You still haven't talked to him? Seriously?"

"If you can call a sleep deprived finals finishing college student rambling to a cute bookshop owner an actual conversation," Clarke responds, slipping her jacket from her shoulders and tossing in over the back of the chair, telling herself she'll put it away later. But really, she knows she's going to forget about it.

"You really should get back out there, Clarke," Raven tells her with a shrug. "Don't let what asshole Collins did to both of us put you off the dating game."

"I still can't believe you two didn't at least punch him for stringing you both along," Harper comments.

Clarke pushes her messenger bag to the floor and flops down in the chair, swinging her legs over the arm. "He wasn't even worth that….besides, I suck at the whole dating thing kind of like you do, Harper."

"That was _one_ time and it wasn't even dating, and Monty and I both realized we were better off as friends," Harper retorts, rolling her eyes. "That's in the past and besides I think Monty is happier with Miller and I'm happier with Monroe…."

"And speaking of the past," Raven says, turning the conversation back towards Clarke. "Finn and Lexa are in your past and maybe this mysterious bookshop cutie can be in your future….if you get the nerve to even talk to him."

* * *

It's not until she finally retreats to her room after they've ordered Chinese takeout that she finds the bookmark that's inside her book. She glances down at the simple minuscule design and flips it over on the back to reveal a phone number scribbled down.

She programs the number into her phone as she's settled herself in her bed with the intentions of possibly calling it in the morning.

The contact may or may not say cute bookshop guy.

She falls asleep with her phone in her hand.

* * *

Clarke wakes up to sunlight drifting in through her window and she curses herself for not shutting her blinds the night before. She rolls over and stifles a groan into her pillow.

She finds herself lying in bed for the next couple of hours, refusing to get up, refusing to be an adult after a week of barely sleeping, coffee binges, and constant studying.

She steals a few glances at her phone, until she finally caves and calls him.

He answers on the third ring.

"Hello," his voice sounds thick with sleep, as if he's just woken up and she wonders if she woke him up.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" is the first thing out of her mouth and she face palms herself.

"You're the girl who bought the Odyssey, aren't you?" he asks in return and after a beat, as if he's only just now realizing her question, he adds. "And no, you didn't."

"You really remember what customers buy which book?"

"Not really, no," he admits. "Just a certain blonde customer who I gave a bookmark with my number written on it…and I also know the buying habits of a few regulars, but other than that? No."

"I'm Clarke, by the way," she tells him. "You don't have to keep calling me that blonde haired customer anymore."

"Bellamy," he responds.

"Well it's nice to put a name to a face," she says with a small laugh.

He chuckles along with her. "Are you doing anything today?"

She purses her lips in thought, not fully registering that he can't see her. "No…why? What did you have in mind?"

"Getting a cup of coffee or a bite to eat, or even a random walk somewhere?" she hears rustling on the other end of the phone and wonders if she actually did wake him up.

"I could go for some food."

"There's a diner a few blocks away from the bookshop," he tells her, and she immediately knows which one he's talking about. It's close to campus and she's found herself eating there a number of times. "If you'd want to meet there around one, maybe?"

"Sure," she responds, a smile growing on her lips. "I'll see you then."

"See you then," he echoes, before hanging up the phone.

* * *

She doesn't know what urges her to tell him any of the things she does, but she's turned into an open book around this guy she just met. She finds herself telling Bellamy all about her drawing hobby, what happened to her father and how she used drawing to cope. She tells her why she wants to be a doctor, because she wants to help people even if she couldn't help her father.

Bellamy tells her about his little sister and how he's taken care of her since their mom died. Clarke also learns that she and his sister, Octavia go to the same university and a small part of her wonders if she's seen Octavia on campus but hadn't realized.

Clarke loses track of time while they sit there, talking.

It's only until she feels her phone vibrating like crazy in her back pocket that she even looks at the time and she learns that it's almost four.

"Wow," she comments, ignoring all the texts from Raven, Harper and Monroe. There's even a few from Wells and she wonders if Raven made him send those.

Raven seems to be sending her individual texts along with text to their group message with Harper and Monroe, causing Clarke to let out a sigh.

"What?"

"The time," Clarke explains, setting her phone down on the table. "We've been here for almost three hours."

Bellamy lets out a laugh. "I guess we have….oops."

"And it looks like someone, or multiple people are worried about you," he adds when her phone lights up, yet again with more text messages.

She glances at the text messages and has to restrain from rolling her eyes.

 _Monroe: you're not dead in a ditch are you, Clarke?_

 _Harper: she's probably out with that cute guy from the bookshop and has forgotten about all of us_

 _Raven: you better be, Griffin….or else I'm renting out your room._

 _Wells: Clarke please tell me you're okay…. Raven won't stop hounding me._

"I guess we should probably head out, then," Clarke suggest, locking her phone, just for it to lock up again.

"Probably," Bellamy agrees, running a hand through his hair.

"This was fun," Clarke tells him as they slide from their booth and make their way to the door. "I had fun."

"Me too," he responds, holding the door open for her.

They say their goodbyes and Clarke finds herself being thankful that she met Bellamy Blake on her way back to her and Raven's apartment.

 _I'm fine, guys….you can chill,_ she remembers to respond to their group chat so that her friends can stop blowing up her phone, asking where the hell she is. With each text getting less pg rated as they go on.

 _Harper: it was bookshop guy wasn't it?_

Clarke rolls her eyes but still types out another response. _His name is Bellamy._

 _Raven: I. Want. Details._

And Clarke knows that tonight, or maybe even before she's stepped into the apartment, she'll be bombarded with questions.

* * *

 _brevis (latin):_

 _brief, short_


End file.
